This Moment

Bamboo Wood, originally uploaded by andrea hornbuckle.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Yesterday

Yesterday, Scott and I had a day all to ourselves. Unfortunately, it was all work. We both had to go down to Limoges, so we combined the journey. Lunch was amusing. We stopped at a restaurant in a village which was advertising a 'menu du jour' of just 11 euros - 4 courses and wine and coffee. What we didn't envisage was eating amongst 20 workmen - at the same table. It was most intimate...not. We then ventured into Limoges to the brocante to stock up my shop and grabbed a coffee in the city. I love sitting there just people watching. Living in a village with only 60 inhabitants, it's nice just watch people going about their daily business.

Boys and their toys

I love the way these boys play together. Giggling, running, laughing, babbling in their french/anglo accents and sometimes fighting, but not alot. It is a joy to watch. The smaller ones are happy to sit and take it all in.

Pumpkin picking

Sam and I picked the remainder of the pumpkins yesterday, with a little help from the chickens. Sam is so excited about Halloween and modeled his Halloween hat, part of his costume from Auntie Saranne - which he won't take off.

Let us entertain you

I think we have 2 comedians for children. A recently crawling baby who likes to reside under the dining table, surveilling our movements. She suffers no casualties when crawling about, batting obstacles out of her way without even a glance to check what she is batting, muttering the words "dirty" (I am constantly telling her not to touch and pick things up which she inevitably puts straight into her mouth) and "doggie"

And, a little boy who loves to dance and show us his moves. I have just dug out from the barn a small stereo which we never used. He is made up that he can play music now. I knew it would come in useful 1 day.

This Saturday, I'm grateful for...mornings like these

While the boys are asleep, Bella and I are having a relaxing Saturday morning. Outside is glorious. I don't mind that it's freezing and my furry boots, strictly for indoors are drenched with the dew from the grass. And, having a nice cup of coffee in the little courtyard. Super :)

This moment

Bubble wrap carpet!, originally uploaded by andrea hornbuckle.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Following SouleMama

Playtime and Exploring

Bella is enjoying herself immensly, crawling about the house and exploring places that haven't before been accessible. I have been placing toys randomly throughout the house (they are usually spead everywhere anyway) so to try and keep her amused and hopefully distract her from the things we don't want her to touch. Which, won't work, we know :)

Ooh la la...pumpkins!

I am chuckling away to myself here, listening to Sam playing with his cars saying over and over "ooh la la" .

Meanwhile, here are 3 of the many pumpkins we have grown. What fun it is going to be scraping the insides out to make soup..not. The best bit is all the lanterns we can make for halloween...to compliment those halloween costumes I can't wait to open.

The caterpillar shuffle

..is the only way I can describe how Bella is getting about. And she is quick! With one leg tucked underneath and her other leg dragging behind, she does a sort of caterpillar movement. She started to do this last night and Sam doesn't quite know what's hit him. Especially when she rearranged his train track. Very sneaky, Bella.

No Bella!

That is what I've been mostly saying this week..."no bella!". The 2 woodburning fires are up and running. How does one keep a shuffling/crawling baby away from them? Sam is also on baby watch and has been instructed to shout "T, daddy...fire!" (T is me by the way. Sam calls me T and we don't know why....maybe Scott asking me for cups of tea?). We also nearly had an interesting chocolate mouse incident yesterday. Out of nowhere, Bella silently shuffled around the kitchen with her eye firmly on the bowl of egg yolks, followed by my Emma Bridgewater mugs. Oh my.

We've been trying to make the most of what nice weather there is by nipping out for a short walks. There are so many pathways to explore around the village and we all benefit from the excercise and the wildlife.

The grandparents have arrived from england for a few weeks. Bella is slightly suspicious of grandad and doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Sam doesn't know whether or not to believe that he actually eats snails and his tales of seeing grizzly bears in Canada or the mighty spirit bear. Nana brought Bella some lovely outfits plus some nicely wrapped gifts from Auntie Saranne.

Not a bad week all in all :)

This moment

Helping daddy, originally uploaded by andrea hornbuckle.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Less is more

Last week, Sam's naughtiness peaked. By naughty, I mean not listening to us and answering us back. We felt we needed to take action and make him understand who is the boss! Our lounge was full of his toys. He had so many he didn't know what to play with. He was a 'little' upset (for about 5 minutes) when Scott took charge and calmly took every single one upstairs. Sam was allowed to choose 1 toy and if, only if he deserved it he got to choose another toy. On the other hand, if he was naughty 1 toy by 1 would get taken back upstairs.

It's worked so well. He appreciates his toys and he enjoys going upstairs to choose another one and it's interesting to see what he will choose. I'm happy to say in the last 7 days he's only had 1 toy confiscated again. He seems a lot happier too, because he is rewarded often and he is doing things, because of this which please us. It just shows he doesn't need all these toys - at least all at the same time. A bonus is, that the house is a little tidier too!

One little boy and his dog

We saved Patch from the animal rescue centre about 9 years ago now. He had been badly treated by his previous owner and had no confidence whatsoever. He slowly started to trust us and settled into our household. It is true though, that since having 2 children, the dogs (Patch and Honey) don't get as much of the attention they once had. But, this problem has been rectified! Whilst Honey the sheepdog does never ending laps around the 1 acre garden (so she's happy), Sam and Patch have well and truly bonded. He won't even sleep without Patch rooted to the bottom of the bed. And, the feeling is mutual.

At the weekend...

This weekend, amidst stomach bugs, colds and a grizzly, teething Miss Bella (plus not alot of sleep), Scott and I had a Saturday night off. With the parents kindly babysitting, we spent the evening in a small French bar in the village of Le Dorat, listening to an Australian Jazzy Funk group - Mettaphor. It was a lovely change from the normal evenings of meals, bath, bed etc etc. I love Jazz music too, so this pleased me no end.

Sunday, we were invited for lunch at our friends house. Sam and Luka have known each other since they were 5 months old. If we ask Sam who he wants to play with it's always without fail...Luka!

This moment and Autumn colours week: brown

Acorn, originally uploaded by andrea hornbuckle.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Following SouleMama

Autumn Colour: Red

Today is a bright and vibrant red!

Miss Bella has a new winter hat - cleverly chosen by me with strings to tie, so she won't be able to pull it off and try to eat it.

Sam and Bella lazy on the sofa. Sam is very protective of her and any excuse to cuddle and kiss her, he will. Very very sweet.

Autumn Colours - Orange

Some photos of autum colours. Today, orange - for taking part in Poppytalk's colour week.

The sunrise en route to the Sunday brocante.

New wool I bought for knitting Bella 'another' cardigain - yes, I can hear some of you laughing!

Other than that. I can see I am going to be busy moving everything from Bella's reach. She is somehow moving around in a sort of shuffle/crawl/turning movement. At the moment, she's determined on clearing the bookshelf - which isn't too serious as thankfully, books are not breakable...it's only a matter of time.

Green

green, originally uploaded by andrea hornbuckle.

Everyone is full of colds here and the weather is frankly, pants! However, when the weather is nice I'm still enjoying taking photos of flowers whilst they last.

Meanwhile, in the house, we're getting cosy - ready for winter. With no central heating plus living in a old stone house with hardly any insulation, we're trying our best to keep warm. I mean cosy too...all sleeping in the same room downstairs near the wood burner. It is like camping and Sam thinks it's fun. Though, we're not sure if he'll ever sleep in his own room again. The shutters are finished and I've resurrected the draft excluders. Bring it on :)

(Taking part in Poppytalk's autumn colours week)